U.S says reviewing 'adjustments' to arms for YPG militants

The Pentagon said on Monday it was reviewing "adjustments" in arms for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dominated by Kurdish YPG militants.

"We are reviewing pending adjustments to the military support provided to our Kurdish partners in as much as the military requirements of our defeat-ISIS [Islamic State] and stabilization efforts will allow to prevent ISIS from returning," said Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon.

On Friday, Turkey's government said President Donald Trump assured his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that the United States would halt all weapons deliveries to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

The United States will "adjust" its delivery of weapons to YPG militants, Kurdish officials said Monday, insisting that collaboration with Washington will "continue".

The Pentagon, however, was vague about what an adjustment might mean, and the comments come after Turkish government said it had received Washington assurances that it would halt weapons supplies to the YPG.

"There are no changes to the relations between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the U.S. administration," Kurdish official Abdel Karim Amr told AFP.

"Obviously, there will be an adjustment in the delivery of arms to the SDF after the elimination of IS, but there is no change in US policy regarding coordination" with the alliance, he added. "The support will continue until we eliminate all that remains of IS's presence in the entire region where there is coordination between the US administration and the SDF," said Amr, who is charged with external relations for the Kurdish administration.

'U.S. IN A POSITION TO STOP PROVIDING MILITARY SUPPORT TO CERTAIN GROUPS'

The United States is now in a position to stop providing military support to opposition groups in Syria as the Islamic State terrorist group is being crushed in the country, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said during a press briefing.

"Now that we’re continuing to crush the physical caliphate we’re in a position to stop providing military equipment to certain groups, but that doesn’t mean stopping all support of those individual groups," Sanders told reporters on Monday.

The US weapons deliveries have angered Turkey, which sees the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a designated terrorist group in both Turkey and the United States.